As manager
of one of the finest hotels in Arizona Territory, Portia Carmichael has respect
and stability-qualities sorely missing from her harsh childhood. She refuses to
jeopardize that by hitching herself to the wrong man. Suitors are plentiful,
but none of them has ever looked quite as tempting as the family friend who
just rode into town…and none have looked at her with such intensity and heat.

Duchess.
That’s the nickname Kent Randolph gave Portia when she was a young girl. Now
she’s a stunning, intelligent woman-and Kent has learned his share of hard
lessons. After drifting through the West, he’s learned the value of a place to
settle down, and in Portia’s arms he’s found that and more. But convincing her
to trust him with her heart, not just her passion, will be the greatest
challenge he’s known-and one he intends to win…

A NOTE FROM

Beverly Jenkins

Dear
Readers,

This
is the second book in the Rhine Trilogy and I do hope you enjoy it. With all
the issues and heartache Portia carried inside, I knew it would be difficult
for her to give her heart to someone, but Kent Randolph proved to be the man
for the job, even if I didn’t know he would be her hero when the story began.
Hope you’ll enjoy seeing Rhine and Eddy from Forbidden and, yes, they are still very much in love.

The
Fontaine Hotel is loosely based on the Mountain View Hotel founded in Oracle,
Arizona, in 1895 by Annie Box Neal and her husband William “Curly” Neal, who
were both of African- American and Native-American descent. The Mountain View
was a combination hotel and spa and catered not only to European royalty but to
wealthy visitors from places like Russia, Australia, and China, too. Look them
up.

The
great Apache chief Geronimo surrendered on September 4, 1886, and was promptly
declared a prisoner of war. He and his people eventually wound up in Florida
along with the Apache scouts the army employed to hunt him down. He died at
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909. The Apache warrior Lozen, also captured in 1886,
was sent to the barracks at Mount Vernon, Alabama, where she died of
tuberculosis in 1887. Although her name has faded from America’s memory, her
bravery and fearlessness remains legendary with her people.

I
only touched briefly on African-American women and the fight for suffrage but
hope to get back to it in depth sometime in the future. Until then, if you’d
like to do some research on your own, here are two excellent sources:

African American Women
and the Vote: 1837–1965 by Cynthia Neverdon-Morton, et al.

African American Women
in the Struggle for the Vote: 1850–1920 by Rosalyn Terborg-Penn

Having
the opportunity to create characters and stories that reflect my heritage as a
woman of color is priceless. Representation matters. Thanks again for the support and love. Thanks
also for spreading the word about my books to everyone you know. It’s much
appreciated.

Until
next time, happy reading.

B.

EXCERPT from BREATHLESS:

Portia saw the curiosity on the faces of
some of the other people seated nearby and wondered if sitting with Kent would
cause gossip, but she went ahead and told him about Eddy and the other ladies
leaving her to help in the kitchen.

“You didn’t want to help?”

She smiled ruefully. “Let’s just say I’m
better with numbers than I am with pots.”

“Can’t cook, huh?”

“No.”

“Then you’ll need a man who can.”

“Are you volunteering?”

He shrugged. “If it’ll keep you from
starving to death, I suppose I can make myself available, if called upon.”

She wondered if he had this effect on all
women.

“How’s the managing of that passion
going?” he asked.

Her heart thumped. “Fine.” His eyes were
so piercing, she trembled in response.

“You’re fibbing of course, but that’s
okay.”

“I am not.”

“Uh-huh.”

She leaned closer so they wouldn’t be
overheard. “I am not. One kiss was all I needed and now I’m fine, just as I
said I would be.”

“Duchess, your uppity mouth’s been
wanting another taste all day.”

Heat sent her senses galloping. “It has
not, and stop calling it that.”

“Okay. Your sweet mouth has been wanting
another taste all day.”

She almost keeled over. “I do like those
high-collared blouses you wear.”

She looked down at herself.

“Makes me want to undo all the little
buttons and see how you manage with my kisses against your bare throat. Curious
about what scent you place there, too.”

Her eyes widened.

He smiled. “No?”

“No.”

“Okay. Just something for you to think
about later. Do you want the legs or the wings?”

Her mind was stuck like it had stepped in
tar. How in the world was she going to remain unmoved by his teasing ways
without wanting to box his ears or wonder how his kisses would feel against
bare throat?

“I’ll take the wings.”

“We have only one set of flatware. Shall
I feed you or do you want to feed me?”

Scandalized by the suggestion, she forced
herself not to glance around to see how closely they were being observed.
“Neither,” she said. “I’ll have the wing. You can eat the rest.”

“Thought I’d ask.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

BEVERLY
JENKINS has received numerous awards, including five Waldenbooks/Borders Group
Best Sellers Awards, two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times
Magazine, and a Golden Pen Award from the Black Writer’s Guild. Ms Jenkins was
named one of the Top Fifty Favorite African-American writers of the 20th
Century by AABLC, the nation’s largest on-line African-American book club. She
was recently nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature. To read more
about Beverly, please visit her website at www.beverlyjenkins.net.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Yes, I’m back with a
review of another Heartbreaker Bay novel by Jill Shalvis. I can’t get enough of
these fabulous characters in this series. ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE is every bit
as wonderful as the rest of the series with perhaps a bit more sizzle since the
heat’s been brewing between Elle and Archer for quite some time. Everyone knows
it…except perhaps them.

***eARC
provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest and unscripted novel

Blurb for ACCIDENTALLY
ON PURPOSE:

There’s no such thing as a little in love…

Elle
Wheaten’s priorities: friends, career, and kick-ass shoes. Then there’s the
muscular wall of stubbornness that’s security expert Archer Hunt—who comes
before everything else. No point in telling Mr. “Feels-Free Zone” that, though.
Elle will just see other men until she gets over Archer…which should only take
a lifetime…

There’s no such thing as a little in lust…

Archer’s
wanted the best for Elle ever since he sacrificed his law-enforcement career to
save her. But now that she’s earned happiness and success, Archer just wants
Elle 24/7. Their chemistry could start the next San Francisco Earthquake, and
Archer doesn’t want to be responsible for the damage. The alternative? Watch
her go out with guys who aren’t him…

There is such a thing as…

As far as
Archer’s concerned, nobody is good enough for Elle. But when he sets out to
prove it by sabotaging her dates, she gets mad—and things get hot as hell. Now
Archer has a new mission: prove to Elle that her perfect man has been here all
along…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We
first met Elle Wheaten and Archer Hunt in SWEET LITTLE LIES. They are very much
a part of the gang that either works or lives in the Pacific Park Building and
hangs out at O’Riley’s Pub on the first floor. We’ve also noticed that there is
a certain level of unrequited sexual tension that simmers beneath the surface
in both of them and now Elle and Archer are about to butt heads over a few
issues, including her ‘dates’ and her sister, Morgan. Everyone has the same
thought when it comes to these two hot numbers…the fashionable Elle in her
power suits and heels and the sexy and exotic looking Archer with his ‘nice
package’…if they don't do something about the steam building between them, San
Francisco might be blown off the map. Both stubborn about expressing their feelings while incredibly attracted to
each other and with Elle determined not to kiss him again, or anything else with him, and Archer stubbornly determined to win her over, ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE is a page
turning delight and keeps us constantly wondering just when they’re going to do
it already. When they do…well, I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to read
this one and find out.

I’ve
always loved the characters Jill Shalvis creates, the banter between them, and
the tension she can build without being overtly sexual but with each
Heartbreaker novel, she manages to make me love the next as much and sometimes
even more than the one that came before it. I have to admit to having been very
excited about Elle and Archer’s story, and feared I might be disappointed but I
wasn’t at all. There were times I wanted to knock Elle upside the head and tell her to stop
being such a ninny about Archer and other times, I wanted just to scream, ‘Step
aside…if you don’t want him, I’ll take him!’

I
also had a lot of problem with major errors, including wrong names in the
galley and I hope, truly hope that they’ve been caught, and corrected. I’m
always being told that they will be but when I purchase the book, some are
still there. Not cool.

All
the same…I highly, highly recommend ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, book three in the
Heartbreaker Bay series by Jill Shalvis because it’s just so much fun, features
such amazing characters, and Elle and Archer, so perfect for each other, are just itching to set the pages
on fire.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

I absolutely love, love,
love the Heartbreaker Bay series by Jill Shalvis, so when she put out a novella
between THE
TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE and her upcoming new release, ACCIDENTALLY ON
PURPOSE, I knew I had to read it. Well, actually I inhaled it. ONE SNOWY NIGHT
was definitely a holiday treat and perfect for a cold winter’s night.

***purchased
for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for ONE SNOWY
NIGHT:

New York Times bestselling author Jill
Shalvis returns to Heartbreaker Bay with a fun and festive holiday novella!

It’s
Christmas Eve and Rory Andrews is desperate to get home to the family she
hasn’t seen in years. Problem is, her only ride to Lake Tahoe comes in the form
of the annoyingly handsome Max Stranton, and his big, goofy, lovable dog Carl.

Hours
stuck in a truck with the dead sexy Max sounds like a fate worse than death
(not), but Rory’s out of options. She’s had a crush on Max since high school
and she knows he’s attracted to her, too. But they have history… and
Max is the only one who knows why it went south.

They’ve
done a good job of ignoring their chemistry so far, but a long road trip in a
massive blizzard might be just what they need to face their past… and one
steamy, snowy night is all it takes to bring Max and Rory together at last.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rory Andrews is a wayward runaway that Willa Davis, owner of South Bark Mutt Shop and heroine of THE TROUBLE WITH MISTLETOE, has taken in under her wing. Is she playing matchmaker by asking Max Stranton to give Rory a ride home to Lake Tahoe on Christmas Eve? Yes. Does she have reason to believe there is a match worth making? Probably. Isn't it obvious?After
being convinced by her friend to go home for Christmas after too long an absence,
Rory decides to do just that but needs a ride. When her only ride
possibility is Max, the boy she’s crushed on since high school, she
wonders if she’s gone mad at even considering the trip at all. After a couple
of hours on the road in increasingly bad weather, Rory is convinced she’s made
a grave mistake but soon discovers that Max’s cold demeanor isn’t just about
their past. There’s heat in that truck and it’s not just from the heater or
Carl, his dog, panting over her shoulder. There’s real sexual tension, and it’s
about to get hotter.I
love how Jill Shalvis conjures such endearing characters but the best part is
how like family they become. More than friends, they have each other’s backs in
a way that only family should but don’t always. Max and Rory knew each other once upon a time. You could even say they have a past resulting in a
slight animosity on the part of Max, but he’s attracted to her. Only he can’t quite
get past what she did in high school either. Rory doesn’t know the effect of her
actions in the past on Max’s future so when he tells her, she immediately accepts
the blame and pushes him away. Their ride together on a stormy road to Lake
Tahoe reveals secrets, regrets, and attraction that neither is able to deny, but
also takes some time to accept.

I’m
not kidding when I said I inhaled this story. Once I started reading, I couldn’t
stop, even though there were a couple of major errors that tried to stop me. I
ignored them and kept reading, I had to know what came next. Jill writes her tales
in such a way that we aren’t just reading it; we are experiencing it along with
the characters. I highly recommend reading ONE SNOWY NIGHT by Jill Shalvis. Truly,
one of the most delightful novellas I’ve read in a long while and it’s perfect
for a cold winter day/night read. So grab hold of it, curl up by a fire or
under your favorite blanket and escape into a long drive home on a Christmas
Eve with Rory, Max, and Carl…you’ll love it.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Wade
King believes he’s worth nothing, especially in the eyes of the man who gave
him a chance to be somebody. When Win’s beautiful teenage daughter kissed him
on her eighteenth birthday, he refused her even though it was the last thing he
wanted to do. He knew he was not the kind of man her father would want for her.
Now she was back.

Hannah
Winston has always loved Wade King, even while she was married to another man.
No man could live up to the man who had claimed her heart as a teen. Now she’s
returned to Win’s Circle ranch to claim her inheritance only to discover her
father had other plans and it involves the one man she tries so hard to hate,
but can’t forget—Wade King.

With
no other choice but to work together, Wade and Hannah try to ignore the pull
each has on the other, only to fall victim to their desires. Now Hannah wants
more but Wade still refuses her. What must a woman in love do to make a
hardheaded cowboy understand that he might think of her as duchess, but she’s
only truly fit for a King?

My thoughts—Wade is a real SOB but I
suspect you’ll love him as much as I did while editing. Hope you’ll read FIT
FOR A KING by Susan Fisher-Davis.

About the Author:

Susan Fisher-Davis writes steamy, hot, sexy books that women love to read. Her stories always have a happily ever after and isn’t that what romance is about? After starting out with Secret Cravings Publishing, she decided to go indie when SCP closed their doors in August 2015. Now she writes and publishes with Blue Whiskey Publishing.

Susan was born and raised in a small town in the western part of Maryland surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains. She moved to Tennessee in 1996 with her husband and two children where she enjoys walks in the woods, fishing, and dreaming about hot men to share with us. She currently has two series out, The Men of Clifton, Montana and The Bad Boys of Dry River. Cowboys and bad boys...what more could any woman want? Her newest series, The Callahans, a series about four cousins, begins with A COWBOY FOR CHRISTMAS, a novella, which is now available but the following books in the series will be full-length.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Already a huge fan of the
Scorpius Syndrome series by Rebecca Zanetti, I knew I had to read the novella
that started it all—SCORPIUS RISING. I’m glad I did because it answers a lot of
questions hanging at the edges of my imagination. I hope you’re going to give
this series a chance, if you haven’t already but either way, I hope you read
this one. My only real wish is that it was longer. And how about that cover? Makes me want to lick the screen.

***purchased
for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for SCORPIUS
RISING:

With a
deadly disease spreading like wildfire across the country, microbiologist Nora
Medina needs to focus all her energy on stopping the pandemic. Playing with
dynamite—in the form of her way-too-hot ex—is the last thing she should be
doing. ​But forced
to work with Deacan McDougall against unexpected enemies with the seconds
ticking by, she knows the explosion is coming...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once
upon a time, Nora Medina was married to a sexy, stubborn Scot named Deacan
McDougall. The last thing she expects when she is dragged away from a
vacation in the sun is to find herself near him again. He hadn’t changed a bit;
in fact, he might be even more sexy, and stubborn. He says he’s changed but she’d
have to see proof of that herself. Aside from her need to ignore the man who
she’s never stopped loving, she has something more pressing to worry about,
such as trying to find a cure to stop an alien bug that is killing everyone
infected or turning them into raging and dangerous lunatics. Her best friend,
Lynn Harmony, is already working hard on the solution to the most devastating
attack on the human species the world has ever encountered. When her own assistant
becomes infected, she discovers just how dangerous the Scorpius bacterium is
and just how dangerous her Scot can be when an obsessed maniac puts her in the
crosshairs.

Rebecca
Zanetti manages to pack more action, more thrills, more angst, and more sexual
tension into her pages than I could ever imagine, and I love every minute of
it. Since this is a novella, there was a lot more time spent on the
relationship between Nora and Deacon but that didn’t mean we don’t get to
experience the slow downward spiral as the Scorpius Syndrome begins to destroy human
society, as we know it. Having read the first two books in the series, MERCURY STRIKING and SHADOW FALLING, I was intrigued to know what led up to the amazing
post-apocalyptic world that Rebecca has created. SCORPIUS RISING is that
missing part of the story. It’s engrossing, exciting, terrifying, and fulfilling. My only
true wish is that it was a full-length novel because I’d like to know more…more
about how Lynne Harmony ended up searching for her mercenary, Jax Mercury, and
what happened to Nora and Deacan. My hope is that somewhere down the line, we
will meet up with Nora and Deacan again....and get the rest of that story.

In the meantime, I highly recommend SCORPIUS RISING by Rebecca Zanetti to
everyone. Even if you’re not normally a fan of apocalyptic story lines, try
this one out…it might just surprise you and addict you the way it has me. I can’t
wait for the release of JUSTICE ASCENDING, due out January 31st. I’ll
be grabbing my copy as soon as it’s available.

Happy
Reading Everyone!

SCORPIUS
RISING, a Scorpius Syndrome novella by Rebecca Zanetti, Zebra/Kensington, available
now in ebook formats at Amazon,
Barnes
& Noble, and Kobobooks.

Monday, January 2, 2017

I know I’ve been away for
a while but I’m reading again, and thoroughly enjoying every word. I started ON
THE PROWL, book two in the Bad Things series by Cynthia Eden back in October
and had to set it aside while I dealt with family obligations. I had only just
started reading it but once I returned to it, I flew through it. I can’t wait
for the next one. These are standalone reads but it’s best to read the series from
the beginning.

***purchased for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for ON THE PROWL:

Time to embrace your inner evil.

Rose
Kinley never intended to be one of the most feared creatures to walk the earth.
Once upon a time, she was a human—one who fell in love with a mysterious
stranger. But when she got caught in a paranormal war, she lost her humanity
and died…only to wake later as a vampire.

Now Rose
has a choice. She can continue to try and be the good girl she once was or she
can let her darkness out to play. Maybe it’s finally time for her to step into
the dark.

He’s the reason she’s undead.

Panther
shifter Julian Craig has a mission—protect Rose at all costs. It’s his fault
that she lost her human life, and he literally made a deal with the devil so
that she would have a second chance as a vampire. And as part of that deal,
he’s supposed to keep his hands off Rose. An impossible task considering the
dangerous lust he feels for her.

When Rose
is targeted by a paranormal collector, Julian knows that he will have to let
his own beast out if he is to protect the only woman who ever touched his
battered soul. Rose may be afraid of the darkness she carries, but Julian is
more than ready to show the world just what kind of a monster he truly is.
Julian isn’t afraid of the dark…but the monsters that wait in the shadows? They
will bow to him.

He’ll show her just how good it can feel…to be
bad.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Julian
Craig is a killer. He works for the Devil himself, Luke Thorne, as a guard and assassin.
He’s also a shifter—a panther shifter. Dangerous and sexy, a monster that kills monsters, he does
have a soft spot—a vampire named Rose. Rose wasn’t always a vampire.
Originally, she was Julian’s girl, a human girl who got in the way when someone
tried to kill him. She died and Julian did what any man in love would do, he
tried to save her. In doing so, he made a deal with Luke to bring her back. He
hadn’t planned on her coming back as a vampire and she wasn’t happy about it at
all.

Rose
is on the run from a collector of paranormal beings and the only one who can
keep her safe is the one man she’s tried to stay as far away from as possible—Julian.
Now she must depend on him, even as she begins to learn more and more about the
man who has claimed her heart from the beginning no matter how much she tries
to deny that fact. When Luke’s twin brother, Leo, becomes involved, all hell
breaks loose. Now Rose has to worry about Julian’s safety as well as her own.

I
love a good paranormal story and Cynthia Eden knows just how to make us fall in
love with all of her characters, not just the main ones. We met Julian and Rose
in the first book, THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE, when Luke gives his devilish heart up
to the beautiful Mina along with the devilishly endearing werewolf, and can’t wait for his story, Rayce Lovel.
As always, Cynthia conjures the best characters and fleshes them out in such a thorough way
that we easily connect with them…even Leo who isn’t turning out to be such a good guy,
even if he is the Lord of Light to Luke’s Lord of Darkness.

Action-packed,
character driven, and mysterious all at the same time, ON THE PROWL is clever,
exciting, and makes the reader want more. Julian is a man, driven by the killer
instinct of his animal, only one who tries to be as gentle as a kitten when it
comes to loving Rose. Only she’s discovering her own dark side and might just
prefer the roaring panther to a mewing kitten after all.

Whether
you are a fan of paranormal romance or not, I highly recommend ON THE PROWL by
Cynthia Eden as well as THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE, book one in the Bad Things
series. The characters alone are worth the reading adventure and who knows…you
might discover you like paranormal after all. I can’t wait to read Rayce and
Lila’s story in BROKEN ANGEL. It’s already waiting for me on my reader. Then
again, I say that anything Cynthia Eden writes is well-worth reading. She’s one
of the best.

About Me

I am a lover of all things literature but there is a special place in my heart for Romance Novels of all sorts. Yes, I am proud to proclaim that I read Romance Novels. Some day, I hope to proclaim, that in addition to being a reader of romance, that I am an author of romance as well.

I love Unwrapping Romance, Romance Novels and their Authors - 60 million readers can't be wrong!

Advertising Disclosure

By clicking through to Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble by way of the links provided and making a purchase. I will earn a small percentage of the sale (very small - lol). All funds help to keep this blog running and allow me to write. For further information see my FTC Disclosure. Thank you.